


Nothing Beneath the Mask

by Neutra7



Category: Persona 5
Genre: Additional tags missing due to procrastination, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/M, Protagonist's Palace, Supernatural Elements, Urban Fantasy, ren needs a hug
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-24
Updated: 2020-12-02
Packaged: 2021-03-09 06:54:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 6,136
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27169612
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Neutra7/pseuds/Neutra7
Summary: Name: Amamiya RenLocation: Cafe LeblancKeyword: Theater"Welcome to the Phantom's Theatre."
Relationships: Amamiya Ren & Phantom Thieves of Hearts, Amamiya Ren/Takamaki Ann, Kurusu Akira/Takamaki Ann, Persona 5 Protagonist/Takamaki Ann
Comments: 12
Kudos: 73





	1. The Phantom's Theater

**Author's Note:**

> Based on the fan track of the Persona 5 Protagonist's palace theme.  
> Specifically this version with the vocals in mind, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pOJBcLlvsJg
> 
> I saw a bunch of people doing a few mini palace idea presentations in the comments, and decided to take it all the way myself.  
> Time for our masked boi to face himself, and his friends are here to help him! It's SHOWTIME!
> 
> FWI, I don't any of these characters. The characters are owned by Atlus.

Name: Amamiya Ren  
Location: Cafe Leblanc  
Keyword: Theater

* * *

The Phantom Thieves came up to the palace entrance. What was once the simple and small cafe Leblanc, was now an extremely large building that resembled that of a theater, if said theater had an overabundance of props. Random pieces of fake backgrounds were plastered to the outer walls, everything from grassy scenery to hellfire backdrops and watery deeps. The entrance hall was filled with junk. A coffee machine here, a hospital bed there, a courtroom stand taking up the center while a school desk sat in a nearby corner. At the back of the hall was a green screen set up against the wall.

As the thieves walked in, a light shone onto the green screen. Their leader, mask donned, tail coat flowing behind him, dropped down into the light. He met their confused stares with an arrogant smirk, his eyes shining gold.

"Woah! Joker! What the hell!? What's with the weird-as decor?" Skull barked out, one arm gesturing out wide while the other loosely held his trusty pipe.

"I'm not sure that's Joker..." Queen commented, eyeing their leader warily. Specifically focused on those gleaming gold eyes.

The smile of the entity appearing as their leader grew even wider. He took a step forward, spotlight following him. The floor appeared as dark train tracks underneath him.

"Oh but I am him. I'm Joker, the dashing, devil-may-care phantom thief. The mythic vigilante who steals criminals hearts!" He bellowed passionately, holding a fist in front of him. ‘Joker’ then spread his arms out wide, lips opened in a wide grin, showing off his perfect white teeth. The Phantom Thieves gave him baffled stares.

"Are you alright Joker? You are behaving rather oddly." Fox tilted his head ever so slightly to the side. Squinting as if detecting every minute flaw in the entity’s appearance. His hand rested cautiously on the hilt of his katana. Oracle gave him a quick look that read 'Ya think!?'. Fox completely missed it.

Suddenly another spotlight turned on, shining on the hospital bed. Another being that resembled their leader sat there, head bowed down. This one wore a hospital gown. He sluggishly brought his head up, staring blankly at the Phantom Thieves through his disheveled, raven black hair. His eyes were golden as well. The spotlight showed the floor beneath him to be made of tiles, like that in a hospital.

"That's just how I act. It's what you expect of me after all..." He shrugged, rubbing at his inner elbow. Several of the thieves flinched as they sighted the puncture marks dotting the skin.

Mona: "What the... Who are you!?"

The new Ren entity coughed for a few seconds, holding up a finger to ask them to wait for him to recover. "I am Guinea Pig. Takemi's personal medical experiment. Free for you to poke and prod as you wish…" Yet another spotlight appeared, shining on the school desk. A new Ren sat there. This one in their leader's school uniform. None of them could see his eyes. They were permanently hidden by a lens flare from his glasses. He stared at them, posture straight, hands folded over on the desk top.

"And I am The Transfer Student. It is best you stop asking questions. You'll all just come to your own conclusions about me anyway." He spoke flippantly, pushing his glasses further up his nose. The thieves briefly caught the shine of golden eyes before returning to the lens flare.

"OK! What the hell is going on here!? W-which one is the real Ren!?" Panther yelled, voice quivering slightly with worry and shock, staring confusedly at each of the Rens.

Haru quickly stepped forward, gripping the her axe tightly. “Tell us where Joker is! We need to find out what is going on!” She stared fiercely at the one wearing their leader’s phantom thief garb, who returned her expression with a casual shrug.

“There is no, real Ren.” Everyone moved their attention to the courtroom stand in the center of the hall. At first, it remained empty, but soon, another spotlight shone down, bringing with it another Ren. This one wore a plain white buttoned shirt and black pants. He gripped the stand with hands painted red. The ground beneath him made of smooth lacquered wooden floorboards. Oracle’s gaze constantly switched between the different Rens, muttering to herself as her goggles fed her information.

“They all have the same signature. They’re all like palace rulers...” She spoke up, unable to hide the nervous tilt in her voice. The other thieves briefly looked at her with shocked expressions before returning to the bloodstained Ren. He simply smiled at them, eyes flaring with their gold colouration.

“I am Ren, as is the other me’s here. Sorry to break this to you, but that friend you know. The one you all confide in. That guy is nothing but a collection of masks designed to appeal to you.” He draped himself over the stand slightly, one arm hanging loosely over the side. “It’s only recently that I’ve finally accepted that fact, and given up trying to keep track of what the real me is.” He spoke nonchalantly, scratching his cheek with his bloodstained fingernails, leaving a small trail that dripped down his face. "It's easier to just keep up the appearances. Makes dealing with all of yo-"

“That is a load of garbage!” Skull spoke up brashly, interrupting the bloody Ren mid-speech. “Ren’s our friend! He knows us! He would never hide from us like some effin' coward!” He pounded his pipe into his hand, glaring angrily at the bloodstained Ren.

“Y-yeah! There’s no way Joker’s pretending. I’m with him all day! It’s impossible to fake something that long!” Mona piped up, tail flicking irritably. All the Rens began to cackle, their yellowed gazes pinpointed on Mona.

“Oh really? Then let’s just see what mask I have for you!” The bloodstained Ren called, sweeping a gesture to 'Guinea Pig' Ren, who’s spotlight suddenly switched off, before turning on again, revealing a different Ren. One in sleep wear. He lay on the bed, before slowly rising up, groggy expression on his face. His golden eyes quickly picked out Mona through his sleep-hazed vision.

“Hey Morgana. Is it time to go to sleep. Or do you want me to make thieving tools again?” He gave a brief stretch before pausing, looking back at Mona with one eye closed. “Don’t tell me you want to make another fatty tuna run…” he spoke through a yawn.

Mona’s expression went from determined to surprised to embarrassed in record time. He looked between the bloodstained Ren and the new one repeatedly before shaking his head wildly. “H-he is not like that! I am not like that!”

The bloody Ren gave a loud “Hah!” before pointing a finger at Mona, drops of blood flying off it with the motion. “You say that, but this is how I pretend to act while around you. I make sure to act submissive and cater to your whims, just to keep that sinking ship of an ego afloat for you.” He shouted, his maniacal laughter echoed by the other Rens. He quickly shifted his attention to Skull, who's expression grew angrier and angrier with every word that came out of the Ren's mouth. "And you! You're such a blockhead, you never noticed how I would always be ready to help you train, and act like I was happy constantly getting stuffed with ramen just cause you can't stop for five seconds without filling your face! One of the reasons I even let it happen was just to stop you from shouting to the world you are a Phantom Thief"

Another spotlight joined the rest, pointed on an empty space in the hall, where a Ren wearing the Shujin Academy sports uniform stood, panting with his hands on his knees. His spotlight showed the floor beneath him to be the rubberized ground you would see on track fields. He looked up directly at Skull, his eyes a bright spark of yellow to match the glisten of sweat on his face. "Hey Ryuji. Another round? Or are we gonna get more ramen? Maybe you'll keep the ginger to ramen ratio one-to-one this time." He chuckled through his laboured breaths.

"Enough! We don't need to see what Ren has been hiding from us!" Queen yelled, her voice echoing throughout the entrance hall, despite the clutter that filled it. She stepped forward to the front of the group, grabbing Skull's shoulder to gain his attention, turning his enraged stare away from the panting Ren. "You are a part of Ren, so you know what we are here for. Do you plan to get in our way?" She spoke confidently, her head held high and her gaze, sharp and hard as her metallic mask, set on the bloodstained Ren, the seeming leader of the group of shadow Rens.

'Joker' snickered to himself, turning to look at his bloody counterpart. "I dunno. Am I going to let them take my treasure?" He asked in mock-indecisiveness, the other Rens in the room following his stare.

The bloody Ren gave a low chuckle, standing up straight on his stand. He raised a red hand up in front of him. Fingers poised to snap. "I think not." He spoke bluntly, giving a wet snap which flicked blood onto his face.

The room suddenly filled with black mist, pouring from all directions. Panther shivered as some passed through her, looking around as the mist amassed in portions around the hall. As the mysterious fog congregated, shapes began to appear within. Silhouettes of a person with no features with which to mark them human. "Shadows..." Oracle muttered. She slowly back away towards the entrance, as did many of the other thieves. The shadow Rens all watched them, unperturbed by the forces that gathered around them. Many of the thieves jumped as they heard loud slams behind them, turning to see more shadows having finished closing the entrance doors, sealing them inside. The malicious entities turned towards them, fully formed into inky black bodies, the only definable feature being a familiar black and white domino mask they all wore.

"Queen, Orders?" Fox murmured, his eyes flying between each of the enemies as they slowly began to approach the Phantom Thieves, his hand gripping his katana hilt all the more strongly. Queen just stared, hands already gripping her spiked tekko. She briefly looked at Fox, before shifting to Oracle, who returned her with a slight nod to her left, in the direction of a nearby side door, one with about ten shadows between them and it. She looked back at the bloody Ren, her glare flickering ever so slightly. "Escape first, go over things after."

The bloodstained Ren smiled gleefully, cupping his cheek as he leaned on his stand, his stare travelling over all the thieves, briefly pausing on Panther before continuing.

"Welcome to the Phantom's Theater."


	2. Opening Act

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This is Neutra, They've infiltrated the theater.  
> And oh boi, I bet things are going SO WELL! ;)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Persona 5 and these characters are owned by Atlus

“Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, SHIT!” Skull hollered as he barrelled down the hallway, narrowly missing a prop mini-fridge before jumping over a couch. Queen, Mona and Noir were just a few steps behind, similarly bobbing and weaving through the junk. Many shadows came running behind them, throwing knives and firing their pistols at the thieves as they gave chase. They could hear the thud of the projectiles hitting objects behind them as they ran.  
  
“Skull! Grenade!” Queen shouted after him, constantly looking back to the shadows, and forward to the safe room door they hurtled towards.  
  
Skull obliged, tossing a pinned grenade back towards Queen, just in time before he careened through the safe room door, startling the thieves who remained in the room, as he immediately tripped on the carpet, falling over himself.  
  
Queen, meanwhile, threw a smoke bomb directly behind her, hoping it would cover their entrance into the safe room, before unpinning the grenade and tossing it further down the hallway.  
  
Mona dashed straight into the room, almost crashing into Skull, with Noir close behind, dropping her axe almost immediately as she panted from exertion. Queen came last, slamming the door closed, as the grenade went off, causing a vibration to rock the safe room.  
  
Oracle hastily caught her laptop before it could fall off the table she had set it on, looking up at them with an annoyed expression. The team was too busy catching their breath to notice. Queen put her ear against the door, trying to hear the shadows’ movements, over the pounding of her heart, as they passed the door.  
  
“Did it go well?” Fox asked, looking over at them from his position at the window, where he previously was staring out into the Metaverse space. Skull looked up from his awkward position sitting on his face. “Yeah. Peachy.”  
  
Queen sighed, sliding down the door. “We were spotted really easily. Despite the lack of security cameras or any obvious signs of our presence, they found us almost as soon as they entered the room.”  
  
Mona stood back up straight from his hunched position, letting out a frustrated growl, “It was like they knew where we were the whole time!” He then lowered his voice to a grumble, “Didn’t help that someone took too long to sound the retreat…” Noir gave him a disapproving glance, having caught snippets of his mumbling. He didn’t notice.  
  
Panther sighed from where she sat on a bed in the corner of the room. “Did you at least find anything useful?” She peered around the room, flinching a little as it shuddered and blurred for a split second, showing a familiar attic before returning to the bizarre parallel. “This place keeps giving me the creeps…” She muttered aloud, twirling a finger through one of her pigtails.  
  
Skull grunted as he got up from his weird laying state, rubbing a sore spot on his head as he tried to recall the moments before the chaos. “We saw one of those Shadow Rens going through a stage entrance. Was that effing stupid jock one…” He commented, brow furrowing.  
  
Noir went to a seat on the room’s couch next to Oracle, who shuffled away slightly as she sat down. “It had a plaque on the wall next to the doors. I think it said… Chariot?”  
  
Mona’s ears involuntarily flicked at the name, and his eyes wandered to Skull without his intention. He quickly shook his head before jumping up onto the bed next to Panther, laying his head near the end of the bed. Queen, meanwhile, grabbed a chair and sat opposite to Noir and Oracle at the table in front of the couch, ignoring the odd vibrations that came from her seat as the room shifted again.  
  


“There were other doors as well, with plaques next to them. It seems this place has multiple stages throughout. Could be because of Ren’s fractured personalities…” Her voice slowed to a stop as the words left her mouth. The others briefly looked up at her before looking away at nothing.  
  
“To think this was all happening without our notice…” Fox muttered, looking down at the ground as images of Ren, watching and listening quietly as he vented about his art, posing dramatically as his assisted him, admiring his pieces, flashed behind his eyes.  
  
“Ren-nii…” Oracle sighed, thinking on the calm smile he gave when she first called him that nickname. It was equivalent to a great beaming smile for her older brother figure.  
  
Panther sighed, wrapping an arm around herself, as she recalled that time on the school roof, and the warmth of Ren’s embrace. Mona peered up at her for a moment, before sighing himself, remembering those comfy nights sleeping on Ren’s bed, kept warm from Ren’s accompanying body heat. It had been a while since Ren had slept the whole night through with Mona. He blinked as a half-forgotten memory returned to him.  
  
“I once heard him muttering to himself at night.” The bipedal ‘not-a-cat’ spoke up, sitting up from his position at the end of the bed. Everyone turned to look at him, questions and wondering in their gazes. “I didn’t catch much, but I remember his saying something like ‘can’t keep this up’…” He continued. He sighed again, shaking his head. “Idiot, he should have told me.”  
  
Queen shook her head. “No, don’t put it on yourself Mona. He didn’t tell any of us, and we didn’t manage to pick up on it either. He hid it too well.” Panther shifted nervously at her words, fingers twirling and entangling in her pig tail even more.  
  
“How did we not see it!?” Fox suddenly yelled, slamming a fist on the wall. Everyone jumped at his outburst. “How could we be so blind to our friend’s troubles, when he gave so much to ours!? Was he our friend, or just our confidant!?” He hollered on, punching at the wall again but not retracting his fist after the swing.  
  
Panther got up to reach for him, trying to calm him down, worry etched in her expression, “Fox, it’s ok. It wasn’t our fault. We’ll fix this. Please.” Everyone watched as Panther grabbed the heavily breathing Fox’s shoulder, to which he significantly deflated, keeping his head down. “My apologies, everyone.” He murmured.  
  
Skull gave a huff and went up to him, roughly patting him on the back. “It’s all good Fox, nothing wrong with letting off a little steam.” He gave his usual goofy smile as he attempted to cheer up his oddball friend.  
  
“Stop worrying Inari. We can always blame this on Skull later. Mweh-he-he…” Oracle added on, giving a cheeky smile as she stared at her laptop screen.  
  
“HEY!” Skull yelped, looking back at the orange-haired hacker with indignation.  
  
“She’s not wrong. I’m sure Skull had something to do with this. He usually is the one causing problems.” Queen commented, giggling along with Oracle, quickly accompanied by Noir and Mona.  
  
“Geez, what’s with the scapegoating!?” Skull yelled, turning to glare angrily at his fellow thieves. He quickly turned back to Fox as a low laugh reached his ears. “For real!?”

Fox, turned back to him, a small smile on his lips. “Forgive me, Skull. But they are right.” He let out a small chuckle. Skull fumed for a moment before returning to sitting on the floor next to the table. “Some great friends…” He grumbled.  
  
The others laughed at his pouting, starting to recount times Skull got himself into trouble, both in and out of the metaverse, and how annoying it was to get him out of it.  
  
‘Wait, did his laugh there sound different than the first one?’ He thought to himself, quickly shaking the thought off as he focused back on the conversation.  
  
“Yeah, he was training on a hill in the park with Ren, and then he suddenly screamed ‘I LOVE BEI’-agh!” Quick as lightning, Skull raced over to Mona, throwing his his palm over the ‘not-a-cat’s’ mouth.“Don’t you dare…” He growled. He was met with more laughter from the rest of the group.

“Alright then! Enough making fun of Skull! I’ve got a map for anyone who’s interested.” Oracle cried, furiously tapping at her laptop’s keyboard. Everyone turned their sights away from the bickering Skull and Mona, who had gone into another one of their tirades of each other, to Oracle who proudly turned her laptop around for Queen to see the screen.  
  
“I’ve collated the location data of your expedition with the large distortion sources in the immediate area. Seems whatever that ‘Chariot’ room is, there are more of them nearby.” She babbled, reaching over the top of the laptop to point at things on the screen.  
  
“You said that the training Ren went into that room, right? Perhaps each of the Shadow Rens have their own rooms?” Haru added.  
  
“Maybe. I think we saw other rooms with plaques next to the door on the way back. All of them were closed as well, though we didn’t see any Shadow Rens go into or out of those.” Queen continued the analysis, squinting at the screen as the room shook and shifted again, turning the table from a luxurious lacquered oak, to a plain and bland wood which had been smoothed from use rather than design.  
  
“It would be wise to wait for one to come out before we go in. We do not want to raise the alarm by running straight into one of them.” Fox added, having moved from his position near the window to a seat at the table.  
  
“Won’t matter if they find us before we even get there!” Mona called, before jumping up on the table, abandoning his argument with Skull.  
  
“It’s still crazy how fast they found us.” Skull added, taking a seat next to Fox, quarrel forgotten.  
  
“Well… we are talking about Ren here. He’s the one who lead us through all those sneaking tactics. Maybe it’s cause his shadows know how we hide.” Panther added, slipping onto the couch on Oracle’s other side.  
  
The entire group looked at Panther in mild surprise. Skull was quick to respond, “Why the hell did we not think of that! Are you for real!?” He slammed his face against the table, groaning in annoyance.  
  
“That… explains a lot actually.” Queen murmured. “We need to rethink how we go about this. We have to move around the theater in a way that he wouldn’t expect us to…” She continued, rubbing her temple and sighing as she studied the map.

* * *

“For the billionth time Skull, no we can’t just blitz through!” Panther cried, leaning back on the couch with an exasperated huff.  
  
“You saw those shadows on the way back. They are super tough, and we haven’t even removed their masks yet!” Mona cried, holding his head in his paws, shaking it repeatedly in annoyance.

* * *

“Fox, if we could take their masks and wear them ourselves, we probably would have done it a while ago.” Queen muttered.  
  
“Besides that, how do you think we could have hid the fact we are not walking silhouettes!? Huh, Inari!?” Oracle cried, glaring at him. Fox stared back at them with his usual neutral expression.  
  
“What if we were to coat ourselves in black paint?” He responded. Oracle facepalmed in reply.

* * *

“err… Oracle, as great as teleporting to the treasure sounds, are you sure it is a safe method?” Noir gently queried.  
  
“Yeah! If we send one person at a time, chances are at least one of us will make it.” Oracle piped up, grinning proudly.  
  
“Yeah, one of us will make it there. While the rest of us will end up in a wall!” Skull yelled, scowling at her. Oracle simply glared back at him.  
  
“Then we’ll send you and Inari through first.”  
  
“Please do not drag me into this.” Fox commented.

* * *

The Phantom Thieves gave a collective sigh as they sat there at the table, small pieces of paper strewn about it, crumpled into balls and filled with crossed out ideas. Everyone was either tired, annoyed, or a mix of both.  
  
“Alright, should I go over what we need to avoid again?” Queen asked. The most confirmation she got was a groan from a face-planting Skull. “Alright, so, Joker’s typical strategy, as far as I was able to figure out, was based on constant movement and consistent use of cover. His attitude to shadows being ‘hit them when they aren’t looking’. This was effective as it allows us to almost always get the jump on them, and made infiltration a much faster affair, balanced by his strong intuition, allowing us to gauge threats and navigate traps at a rapid pace.”  
  
She frowned slightly at her use of ‘intuition’. It was always weird how Joker seemed to have this other-worldy awareness of his surroundings. Being able to spot trap solutions and read enemy strength faster than Mona, their Metaverse expert. She always chocked it up to his strength as a leader and aptitude as a phantom thief.  
  
“Always moving, always hiding, always calculating. Hehe, Ren was always at his best when we went into the Metaverse, huh.” Noir giggled, remembering just how capable their leader was when in the strange dimension.

“Never still was another point. Even when he stood in place, he was always doing something. Reloading his gun, checking the surroundings, pulling at his gloves.” Fox added, thinking of a similar image of Ren’s restless phantom thief behaviour.  
  
Skull suddenly slammed a hand on the table, raising his head up. Everyone looked at him with a small amount of worry as he stared at them wide-eyed. “I got an idea.” He said, almost in awe of himself.  
  
“You can get ide- aggh!” Mona yelped, his snappy comeback interrupted by a slap upside the head from Oracle.  
  
Panther sighed as she looked at Skull with extreme doubt. “Is this the idea to blitz it again?” She bemoaned. Skull shook his head, standing up and pointing out the door.  
  
“Alright, listen to this effin’ masterpiece!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And that's chapter 2!
> 
> Please let me know if there are any problems or critiques to be made of this. it's the only way for me to improve.  
> I'm specifically interested in any comments on the length. I felt that I could have split some of the end off into the next chapter, but wasn't sure/couldn't be bothered. If anyone has advice on that, would be greatly appreciated!
> 
> Good ol' Ryuji's got an idea. Will it work? Will they even do it? Will him and Mona bicker again? Probably on that last one.


	3. Turtling and Wondering

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Through Ryuji's... 'unique' new plan. The Phantom Thieves attempt to enter the mysterious Chariot theater.
> 
> And on the dimensional flip-side, Ren wonders what's going on with his fellow thieves.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this came a real long time after the last one...
> 
> To anyone who's actually interested in this fic, my apologies for taking so long. Procrastination and work had me pulled away for a while. I should have more time to work on this fic now that holidays are starting up where I am.
> 
> Anyways, Persona 5 and these characters are owned by Atlus, and enjoy the new chapter.

“Skull, I swear, I can’t tell if this is utter madness, or the one good idea you’ve come up with.” Queen muttered as she peeped out from behind the cover of the large prop fridge they had set next to the Chariot theater entrance.  
  
“Trust me, Queen! This plan is gonna be awesome!” Skull reassured, as he crouched next to her, out of sight behind the armchairs they set up on opposite sides of themselves, adjacent to the fridge. They had placed their hiding spot right against the wall of the corridor. “I’ve always told Ren we should try to turtle, but he kept telling me it was cheap, and that striking hard and fast was always more fun. He’ll never see this coming!”  
  
Queen merely sighed in reply, peeking over their hiding spot to check the others. They were all set up around the corridor, in similarly constructed hiding spots, using the various props and other junk scattered around the palace. While the thieves have always made use of available furniture to hide, this is the first she had ever seen them take full advantage of them.  
  
Her sigh came back triple-fold when she heard Fox and Oracle bickering from their shared hiding spot.  
  
“Shove over Inari! I can’t work properly with your tail in my face!” Oracle hissed from where she crouched on the ground, laptop rested on her lap. She stared at him with furrowed eyebrows and a pout, the annoyance in her eyes hidden behind her goggles.  
  
“I would if you had let me organise this hiding spot myself. Instead you just snapped at me, saying you would do it yourself so I don’t ‘make it so good-looking that the shadows would mistake it for art’.” Fox mumbled back, giving her a quick, stern look, before returning to watching the corridor for guards.  
  
“Both of you shut up!” Panther whispered harshly from the other end of their hiding spots, ducking down behind cover as she spotted a shadow passing by the entrance to the corridor. It’s feet made no noise as it stalked down the plush red carpet, its mask swiveling left and right as it attempted to spot out ambush points they typically would have used. Panther couldn’t help but shudder at its apparent formlessness, how its familiar mask, where she guessed the eyes to be, suddenly twisting around to the back of its head, the arms rotating around its torso, pistol and knife constantly switching which side of the body they were on. It eventually continued past their corridor.

Noir gave a small sigh as she sat, leaning back against a cold, espresso machine. She wondered why Fox and Oracle seemed to bicker so much more now. Usually whenever they started, they were told to calm down and focus soon after. “Oh, right. Ren would usually be the one to tell them that...” she mumbled to herself, gaze travelling to Queen, who rubbed her temple in irritation at the artist and hacker’s continued arguing, after the shadow had past.  
  
“Are we seriously going to just stay here until the training Ren comes out? Who knows how long that will take!” Mona groaned from next to Noir, sliding down from his position on top of a pilfered sofa cushion. He glared at Queen as well, his gaze filled with annoyance and judgement, in contrast to Noir’s worry and sympathy.  
  
Noir gave him another worried glance. It seemed everyone was thrown off balance.  
  
Skull gave a low “shh” that carried to the other thieves. He had popped out of his hiding spot and had his ear against the door, listening for movement inside the Chariot theater. He quickly gave them all a thumbs up, before diving back behind his cover, the other thieves hiding as well.  
  
The door gave a soft click, followed by a gentle creak of wood, as the training Ren, tracksuit still on, eyes still golden, came out of the door, grumbling to himself. “Where is he?” Some of the thieves managed to catch his mutterings. “He is usually performing at this time.” He mumbled, beginning to walk off down the corridor.  
  
He stopped for a moment, just past Queen and Skull’s hiding spot, taking note of the difference in his environment. “These shouldn’t have rearranged already, shouldn’t they?” he muttered, peering around with a now serious, calculating gaze.  
  
Skull quickly hopped up from behind his cover, pipe in hand.  
  
‘THWACK!’  
  
One solid hit across the back of the head, and the training Ren collapsed onto the carpet, Skull standing over him with a silly grin. Everyone else stared in various degrees of bafflement.  
  
“That worked?” Panther whispered, staring confusedly  
  
“How the hell did that work!?” Mona nearly cried, his voice quickly stifled by Noir covering his mouth.  
  
Queen stared with a similar degree of surprise, before shaking her head, and gesturing to Skull and Fox. “Get him into the theater!” she commanded, rushing over to open the door, quickly peeking through to check the other side before opening it fully.  
  
The two guys grabbed the training Ren by ankles and wrists, picking him up off the floor, and carrying him through the door. Skull maintained his joyful expression, looking with glee down at his capture, while Fox stared into the Chariot theater door, trying to see what lay beyond. All he did see was the backs of wooden prop backgrounds. The rest of the thieves quickly followed, as Queen shut the door behind them.  
  
A guard shadow showed up at the entrance to the corridor again, mask swiveling around its head. It paused, staring down the corridor. One arm travelled across its chest, joining the other on its left side. The other arm quickly matched its movement, changing to the shadows right side. It shook its head, a suddenly empty hand briefly rising to clutch at its mask. The hand fell back down, weapon returning as quickly as it left, the shadow continuing down the corridor.

* * *

Ren sighed as he stepped out of the Protein Lovers Gym, looking around the alleyway entrance to the gym, before making his way to the subway station, his head tilted down in thought.

“Where is he?” He thought to himself, running over a list of potential places Ryuji could be. He wasn’t at the arcade, the gym, his favourite ramen place, the track at school, and he would have picked up his phone if he was at home.

“I could of spent my time doing more productive things than running around Tokyo, looking for him”. Ren muttered to himself, taking out his phone, ringing Ryuji one last time. The brash bottle blonde’s silence was starting to concern him. The call rang for a few seconds, before cancelling with an ‘unavailable’ auto message.

“Why this and not the regular voicemail?” He wondered, tucking his phone away as he took the stairs into the station, peering up at train times back to Yongen-Jaya.

He might as well head back to Leblanc, and see if Morgana was finished wandering. His feline-like companion was doing that more often than usual, something Ren could understand somewhat, given recent events. He’s had the ‘luxury’ of having his hands full himself, managing all the different things going on.  
  
He held back an annoyed growl as he quickly checked his texts. “Must keep quiet and out of people’s mind, as usual.” He reminded himself, as he stepped into his desired subway car.  
  
A bunch of the people he was helping were messaging him on activities. A speech happening here, a fortune tell there, shogi training over there. Sometime he wondered how he managed to balance all of them, alongside school and a few part-time jobs.

Ren sighed and rubbed the back of his neck. “I know Igor told me to ‘strengthen the bonds’ and all, but could he of at least set some tasks that aren’t as time-consuming!?” And those people, alongside school and work, were just the ‘normal’ activities. Then there was the thievery business. “At least that task feels somewhat fulfilling.” He added to himself.  
  
They may all be taking a break for now, but it was hectic, back when he had to make time to spend with all of them, not to mention handling gear and medicine. Guess that’s a silver lining to not being able to do Phantom Thief work for now. He couldn’t help but allow himself a sardonic smirk at the thought.  
  
“Like that’s a good thing.” He grimly thought, remembering some of the people they’ve taken the hearts of. The kind of people they could still be going out to take down, were things better.  
  
“Plus it means less time spent wi-” His unhelpful thoughts were quickly interrupted, as he heard his stop blare out through the train’s speakers. He pocketed his phone again, making a mental note to go through the rest of his messages later. He quickly weaved his way out of the crowd, heading straight for Leblanc.  
  
The door bell jingled as he entered the small cafe. Sojiro briefly looked up, a neutral expression on his face. “Back so soon?” He asked, wiping away absentmindedly at a coffee cup. The usual elderly couple looked up at them before returning to their hot drinks.  
  
Ren took a quick breath in, an image of the Buddhist guardian of the north flickering through his mind, before he answered.  
  
“Was looking for a friend. Didn’t find him.” Blunt and to-the-point. A speech pattern similar to the cafe owner’s own.  
  
Said cafe owner gave a small smirk. “Geez, you’d think that lot would be easy to find. They all stand out like broken fingers. Ren returned with a tiny smirk of his own.  
  
“You would think.” He said absently, making his way to the back of the cafe, towards the stairs to his attic abode.  
  
“If you’re looking for the cat, he isn’t here. Went up to give him food earlier, couldn’t find him.” Sojiro called after him.  
  
Ren paused for a moment, fighting back an annoyed expression at the not-a-cat’s continued absence. “I have no right to criticise Morgana’s absence.” He reminded himself.  
  
He called back to Sojiro, “Thanks. I’ll study upstairs. Let me know if you need any work done.” before ascending to his room. Act polite in front of the customers, let him know I’m hard at work and willing to do more for him. It usually settled well with the middle-aged barista.  
  
It did now as well, as he heard what he knew was an affirming grunt follow him up the stairs, alongside some mutterings from the elderly couple, indiscernible over the chatter from the TV.  
  
He dropped his bag at its usual spot at the top of the staircase, before settling down onto the couch, pulling out his phone. He opened his messages up again, quickly reading them over.  
  
“The others have been real quiet lately…” He thought, scrolling down his ‘most recent’ list to where his fellow thieves’ names lay. He knew they were all taking time off their ‘job’, but he didn’t expect them to all disconnect from him. He couldn’t help a pensive frown as he checked their statuses. All offline. Rather extreme. Especially for Futaba.  
  
Ren gave another sigh putting his phone down and rubbing his eyes. He just sat there, letting his mind spiral in repeating thoughts. “Where are they? Why do they not contact me? Did I do something wrong when we-”  
  
He quickly shut that train of thought down when it reached that question, picking his phone up again, returning to the top of his recent texts. He gave them another once-over, before putting his phone down, a new mental note of things to do tomorrow in the back of his head, before he went back to his school bag, pulling out textbooks.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh boi, I get to do the character study on a character who's not meant to have a personality now. Yay!
> 
> Anyways, next time on Nothing Beneath the Mask, the thieves enter the Chariot theater. What awaits them? Will it help Ren? Or have they no chance of saving him? Find out next time, however long that may be...
> 
> Please comment if you have any constructive criticism to give, it would help me understand where I need to improve my writing.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading.  
> Note that updates to this work will be dependant on my procrastination level, and that this is my first fic.  
> Any constructive criticism is welcome.


End file.
